Pushed Into the Shadows
by Micatony
Summary: Book 2 of MORE THAN A HALF BLOOD TRILOGY. Hunted by the Gods for the sins of his birth, Lawrence will never find peace. Return of Aydyn Owl, Kiera Crow, Camp1/2Blood, Nico and all the characters from the trilogy's first book, 'Who Has Seen the Wind.'
1. Prologue and Chapter 1

Prologue

_Dawns rosy fingers'…_

_The flash of a face…_

_Gold Eyes…_

_The ocean…_

_A boom then the cold of the sea…_

_ Another face more stern with a flowing beard and crab claw horns…_

_A journey with the feeling of the water sliding past my face and toes…_

_Noon and the first time I saw the women who I always called Mother. Sweet, gentle, and graceful features, a face anyone young or old would call mother. The smell of sweet breads, honey, milk, and just a hint of clean gardening dirt. Sun set, bed time stories of Carl the Crab, Robin Hood, and then Peter Pan and a soft lullaby telling the tale of heroes and rebels and people yet to make their mark on the world. The moon's journey, a warm bed. Enveloping sleep that one never wants to leave._

_Dawn's rosy finger spread across the sky and the birds sing; a little annoying but bearable. Looking in the drawer to find new clothing then going out to see my mother and give her a hug look her squarely in the eyes and see the pride in her eyes as she seen how big I've gotten. Helping her in the garden wearing the glasses that my mother gave me to protect my eyes. Seeing a girl with starry eyes and black hair next to the lion laying in the shade of a tree. Mother bringing me into the house and saying "come back to me" and me saying "of course mom." Blackness. _

_The feeling of cold air against my cheek and pavement beneath my feet. A hood over my head. Looking around my shoulder and seeing an eye staring back. Running. Forcing a door open. Heat pouring out. Finding a corner and hiding. An enveloping sleep the kind no one ever wants to leave._

_**Should Zeus' bolt fail to do what needs to be done,**_

_**He has caused the gods to fall one by one,**_

_**The foe he made shall want peace till his last breath,**_

_**And the hero shall have a fate much worse than death.**_

_The lost prophecy of Phoibe Titan of Prophecy and grandmother of Apollo._

* * *

Chapter One

Looking down a street in East Syracuse one might see a teenage with a hood pulled down over his head and not think anything about it.

But when folks looked down and saw this individual they thought "What a runt."

If some one stood fifteen paces away this boy looked like he was about ten. He wore a baggy hoody that couldn't hide his thin dangly arms and meek, mild body. He stood about five foot five, adopting a posture that gave the feeling that this kid just wanted to be left alone.

Now taking a few steps closer, the pale pale skin would stand out from under the hood pulled down past the nose.

Now bring the viewer only a foot from the runt. Suddenly, something changes; respect and fear are gained for the child.

Then he looks up, wary of the unwanted presence. The colorless eyes that could have seen millennia before God connect with the viewer. An unwavering gaze that forces the other to look away or drown in chardonnay irises.

The viewer quickly walks away.

Lawrence smiled to himself but not on his face. _Another person got the guts to come pick a fight but forgets when they see my 'problem.' _The thought almost made chuckle. Almost, but not quite.

_Let's just keep on moving_ he thought to himself _and maybe I'll lose them_.

He shouldered his black Nike duffel bag, shifted his Le Moyne draw-string bag, pulled down his hood, then kept on walking.

_Just get out of the city. Just get out of the city_ he kept telling himself. He hadn't liked Syracuse when he first got there and it wasn't growing on him. The city felt wrong. That was the only word for it: _wrong_.

"None of this should be here" the thought kept coming to his mind.

But it wasn't just his feel for the city that gave him the drive to move. It might also be the horde of monsters that seemed to think Lawrence was some major attraction. Something to watch. Something to follow. Lawrence didn't know what would happen if he stopped but he didn't want to find out.

_Thank the lord that I'm too small to be their dinner_. The thought amused him for a while as he contemplated what they would do to him if they decided to become hostile.

For a day that seemed like a month, he just been waiting and wandering around the city. Then yesterday, a gift had come from his mother; the Black Nike Dufflebag and the Le Moyne draw-string bag. Both were stuffed with stuff that Lawrence needed or wanted.

As he moved through Syracuse, Lawrence found more reasons to support his opinion of the city. A man robbing a little mini-mart; a father beating his son; a woman abusing drugs; and some homeless people with a hungry faces that pulled the pity right out of Lawrence. But he didn't have time to right these wrongs. He needed to find his way back to his mother. And his way back to peace.

Dusk came and Lawrence needed to find a place to sleep. After searching for a little while and trying a few locked doors, he finally decided that a night under the stars might not be too bad.

Lawrence made a bed of newspapers. He moved around his duffle bag pillow to a more comfortable position. Then, Lawrence waited for sleep. Sleep didn't find him to well that night, so he looked at one of the papers. There was something about some freak storm that moved across the country and odd events in New York City that really didn't make any sense.

Lawrence took out his _Sansa_ MP3 player and flipped it to the playlist "Soft." He closed his eyes, listening to a flute and violin while a man sang about broken love. Then, Lawrence curled up and went into deep enveloping sleep; the kind that you never want to leave.

* * *

"I sssssay that we kill him now."

"Of course you do," a horned centaur replied, "You're the only one who'd get a meal off him. He's too small, even as an appetizer for the rest of us!"

"I seen fresh born harpies bigger dan' dat," commented another monster.

"Why are we following him anyways?" said a higher voice.

"You moron you don't know anything." replied a deeper voice.

"Well why are we?" the soprano ask.

"Uuuuh… well…um… that is…GET OUT OF MY FACE!" The deep voiced monster stormed away.

"You ssssssee! We don't know why we follow him. And we're ssssick of it."

A Cyclops stood up bigger than all with a sharp look in his eye "If you have the courage to, go and kill him yourself. It wouldn't take much." With one eye, the Cyclopes stared his opponent down. The snake creature looked away. Satisfied, the Cyclopes nodded, "No? I thought not."

The Cyclopes then looked at the rest of the monsters. "We follow," the Cyclopes began powerfully, "because of the power in him. None of us know what it is, except that it is different." The Cyclopes paused and looked at the ground.

Then the Cyclopes looked back up and continued. "He appears next to me. I look over shoulder and I look back and he's there. But to me, it seemed forever before he looked up then started running." The single eye looked around, daring anyone to challenge him. "No we don't kill him-but watch and learn."

There was silence for a second. while he thought to himself. "Snake Women you will gather food tonight" Grumbles and collection of gestures came from the party selected to get the grub. But the Snake Women went off to gather food at the expense of the mortals.

* * *

Line

The mortal of the surrounding area saw two things: One, a skinny white boy that had come through earlier with no car, parents, or money. Two, thievery.

To any reasonable person there was an obvious connection between the two. If only the mortal had considered that there may be mythical monsters with empty tummies, a fair deal might have been worked out (probably not). So the mortal did the only thing he saw reasonable; call the police.

End of Chapter One


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Officer Murphy had been at the Donkin Donuts when the call came in at 3 a.m. There had been a theft in the neighborhood. Murphy sighed. Looked like no donuts; tonight it would be coffee. Lots and lots of coffee.

A few minutes after the call, the police officer was off to see the owners of a few mini-markets that had been "robbed."

"Really people, really!" Murphy muttered to himself again. Even his ten year old son would be able see that these were no robbings. Especially not done by the skinny kid. But all twelve owners seemed to think it was the kid's fault.

Doors had been split to straw, windows shattered, and enough food was taken to feed an army. Strangely, most of the stolen food was meat. What could have one kid wanted with all that; especially since he was on foot?

"You have got to be kidding me, this wasn't a robbing, this was a riot," Murphy told the owners. The more Officer Murphy thought about it, the more apparent it was that the kid, who ever he might be, was innocent.

But it wasn't like Murphy had a choice. He had to do something before the owners started their own riot. Murphy sighed; he had to cuff the kid.

_Poor kid. _Murphy thought the kid probably had a hard life and wanted no trouble; just was in the wrong place at the wrong time. And if he was guilty? Well, something drove him to do this. Poverty, despair, or hunger.

"Poor kid," this time spoken.

Murphy made a turn into an alley, eyes searching for movement. He flipped on the headlights.

A dart of movement! Murphy's heart raced as he jumped in his seat. A sharp intake of breath. His heart beating wildly, pounding hard and fast.

Then the moment passed as he saw a tomcat race off.

Muphry put a hand on his chest waiting for his heart to calm down. Finally, it did.

"I'm too old for this job" Murphy said. He took off again looking for the kid.

* * *

_Mother really had packed everything_, Lawrence thought as dawn's rosy fingers began to spread across the sky. He looked again at everything. In the Le Moyne draw-string bag there was a laptop with a power cord, wireless internet connection, and a MP3 adaptor. In the duffel bag there was some clothes, a knife, a green Zippo lighter with a golden shamrock in the corner, and most important food. Quite a bit too.

He thought back to when both bags dropped out of the air. A note had fallen as well. The note read _Google Map Mother_ weird.

Lawrence smiled to himself. _Yep that was Mom_.

He looked up to see a police car pull up.

"Great, now what?" Lawrence scoffed.

The door opened and a cop stepped out. The cop was really muscular but had the beginnings of a little belly. Mr. Bacon-Man eyed Lawrence up and down. Then, the cop said "Get in."

"Why?" Lawrence demanded. He'd almost been thrown-off by the cop's tone-not harsh-but decided to stay defensive.

"Because some folks say you robbed a few stores"

"Really, you've got to be kidding me."

"Nope."

"Dude, you don't even know what I've been through. In the past 24 hours I've just appeared half way across the country instantly standing next to a Cyclops. Has that ever happened to YOU?"

After a second of stunned silence Lawrence continued with his ramble. "No, I didn't think so. And then things just start falling from the sky with weird notes on them telling me to do fool thing! And WHY IS THERE A HORDE OF MONSTERS FOLLOWING ME?"

A few things were going through Office Murphy's head now: _What the heck?, Is he crazy?, LSD?_, and _I'm getting to old for this job_.

Murphy made a lunge for Lawrence with the full intent to get him in cuffs and into the car.

Lawrence ducked and instinctively pushed Murphy hard in the chest. Murphy stumbled back and tripped over a fire hydrant. The fall was pretty hard and sounded painful.

Lawrence should have started running, but he froze for a moment. When Officer Murphy got up he went for the club on his belt with an expression of anger.

Murphy swung and cracked Lawrence on the shoulder.

Pain blossomed. But fear, true fear, for the first time engulfed Lawrence. When he had seen the Cyclops, Lawrence had been shocked, but not afraid. Even running from the monsters had not been true fear; it was more like nervousness. But now…the look on the cop's face and the piecing pain scared Lawrence. For the first time in his life, Lawrence was afraid.

Lawrence's mind raced. He tried to find something to hold on to. But fear flooded his brain, driving everything else away and making him incapable of moving or thinking.

Lawrence saw everything slow down. The club coming down, aiming for his head. FEAR. FEAR.

The flood of fear was drowning him. In his mind's eye Lawrence saw a pit the flood was washing him into. He couldn't go in it. He grabbed a string that was hanging near him. There were others but they were further away, out of reach.

So slowly the club and the man moved. Lawrence held tighter and tighter to the string in his mind.

"I won't go in there!" he shouted maybe in his mind, maybe in real life. He could not tell. Tighter and tighter Lawrence held as it became harder and harder to hold on to.

Murphy had a new look on his face: Fear. Pain.

Faster and faster the flood raced about him.

Tighter and tighter.

Murphy slowly collapsed and the club fell out of his hand inches from Lawrence's face.

The flood stopped and once again Lawrence was in control of his mind. He let go of the string. Everything caught up. And Murphy fell at normal speed to the ground, lifeless.

Lawrence knew two things without question. This man's heart was stopped and he, Lawrence, had done it. He didn't know how he had done it or what the pit in his mind was or the strings.

Another cop car was coming close. Lawrence grabbed his bags and ran. And ran. The pounding of his feet never seemed to stop. And finally it did, he didn't know where or when. And he cried. Tears of anguish and guilt, sadness, and misery.

"Why couldn't you have left me alone?" he sobbed.

He cried himself to sleep. A deep sleep. Where one forgets everything and you find peace for a little.

End Chapter Two


End file.
